The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have awarded Team India’s central contracts to wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan. The decision was taken on Monday after the two young batters fulfilled the basic criteria for inclusion in Team India’s central contract list.
The BCCI while announcing the central contracts, a few weeks ago, noted that Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan have not been included in the list and the two will only be taken into consideration once they meet the required criteria of playing three tests in the ongoing season.
Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan played the Dharmshala test against England a few days ago, which apparently was their third test. The two made their debuts together against England in Rajkot during the third test.
Now after the latest additions to Team India’s Central Contract lists, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan have been added to Group C. The two will get the annual retention sum of INR 1 Crores from the BCCI. Their names were, reportedly, ratified during the Apex Council Meeting of the BCCI on Monday (March 18).
List of Team India’s Central Contract
Grade A+ (4 Athletes) – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A (6 Athletes) – Mohd. Shami, R Ashwin, Shubman Gill, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (5 Athletes) – Rishabh Pant, Surya Kumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C (15 Athletes) – Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Jitesh Sharma, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan.
Necessary Requirement: Athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis.
Iyer, Kishan dropped from team India’s Central Contracts
The BCCI’s central contract announcement made quite a bit of sensation a few weeks ago. The Indian Cricket Board excluded the likes of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from its annual contracts. If the reports are to be believed, the decision to drop Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the central contracts was taken in the aftermath of their decision not to make themselves available for domestic tournaments despite not playing the international as well.
Interestingly, Ishan Kishan midway through the South Africa tour asked the authorities to free him of his duties and subsequently headed home. Since then, the southpaw hasn’t made himself available for selection neither at the international level nor for the domestic tournaments.
Shreyas Iyer, on the other side, was dropped midway through the India vs England Test due to his poor performance. Iyer didn’t inform the NCA of any possible injury concerns and also not made himself available for selection for the Ranji games.
Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan to shine in IPL 2024
After getting rewarded for their magnificent show in the red-ball cricket, now it’s time for both the batters to make a strong statement in the T20s as well. The two will be in action for their IPL franchises in the upcoming Tata IPL 2024.
While Jurel plays for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL, Sarfaraz Khan has been associated with Delhi Capitals (DC) for quite a long time in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli likely to announce NEW NAME for RCB ahead of IPL 2024 | Royal Challengers Bangalore